A Puppeteer's Heart Strings
by Autumn Win-Dow
Summary: "Admit it. Things were never supposed to be this way. Because whatever the 'feelings' we have for each other are exactly, they're not real. We've been cursed to feel this way about each other. In reality, we're really nothing to each other." It all began with a six day curse.
1. Prologue

_**A Puppeteer's Heart Strings**_

_**Prologue**_

"Hey, did you hear? About the curse of Alice Academy?"

"Curse? That's ridiculous, I can't believe you still listen to those myths."

"It's not her fault, I've heard about it too, from the others in my class. Apparently it's some sort of love curse."

"What?! A love curse?"

"Yeah. According to what I've heard, when a blue heart appears on your wrist you've been cursed to fall in love with the person who has the same tattoo within six days. Creepy, huh?"

"B-But… it's impossible right? I mean, what happens after?"

"No one really knows. All we supposedly know is that none of the couples actually date afterwards."

"Wow… I certainly hope it isn't true."

"Says the person who was so against the concept two minutes ago, of course it isn't true. It's just a myth, after all."

"Y-Yeah, you're right. How silly."

The mahogany-skinned demon gnawed his fingers expectantly as he overheard the conversation between the female students. He was surprised that word of his deeds had spread throughout the school grounds and into the naïve minds of the high schoolers. Though their explanation about the myth was not completely accurate, he was rather impressed that they had discovered this much.

Knowing it was about time he found a new target before his current victims - of whom he was disappointed in due to the lack of twists and turns he was expecting from them, since he only committed these deeds for his entertainment - snapped out of their curses of which he had placed on them, he climbed up the building towards the glass roof of the school cafeteria. The pint-sized demon struggled to reach the top due to his stubby legs and fingers, and after what seemed to him as hours of hardship he successfully sculled the brick building to observe the happenings inside the cafeteria.

_It'll be the same as usual. As soon as I see two people - male and female - I will jinx them to fall in love in six days… then on the seventh day, the curse will break and ruin their young minds! _The demon snickered at his musings, gleefully expectant for the post-curse 'syndrome' which usually resulted in breaking down the minds of the children along with the curse itself.

He was, in one word, sadistic. Especially when it came to the complex minds of teenagers.

No one from Hell knew of his endeavours. The concept of manipulating the mindsets of humans was forbidden among all demons, but he could not halt his way of satisfying his secret pleasures on Earth.

It was his secret, and his secret alone.

His curiosity immediately sparked at the sudden entrance of a girl. Her wavy chestnut locks hung down to her waist, but the tangles at the back of her head as well as her uneven socks which were evidently pushed down her leg by some sort of sudden fall completed her dishevelled look. The demon was very interested in how she had turned out to look like this, and when she suddenly confronted a handsome, dark-haired boy at the other side of the cafeteria with a sharp peg to his head by a clown doll - in which the demon noticed looked similar to himself - he knew the identities of his new target.

_Perfect… this will be eventful. But perhaps… _he thought back to the conversation the students were having in his presence. _Perhaps I should do things differently from now on._

* * *

An inattentive brunette doodled aimlessly on paper as her mathematics teacher drawled on and on about calculus formulae. Instead, her eyes continuously darted to the scratched water bottle by her foot, in which she was planning to use at the beginning of lunch break. Grinning excitedly at the imagined outcome of her upcoming prank, she picked up her teddy-bear pacer and began to mark circles in the corner of her blank, lined page.

She hadn't noticed the many students seated behind her observing her every movement, glancing suspiciously at any object or person around her - most particularly the oddly juxtaposed bottle on the ground. Most could tell that it was a prank, but were not completely sure of _whom_ had set it up until she glanced back down at it and smirked once again.

Other than the small doodle of a bear with oddly-shaped eyes and the water bottle, she noticed something odd. Her seat was strangely crooked, as it kept rocking back and forth from her every movement. Unlike the usual person who would stand up and wedge an over-folded piece of paper underneath one chair leg, she continued to rock back and forth curiously, dazed as she glanced at the back leg of her seat.

As soon as she did so, one seat leg collapsed - as if it was designed to do so. She squealed in shock at the sudden movement, and before she knew it she was on the floor with her legs in an awkward position. _What in the world...? _The students watching understood what had happened and sneakily brought their phones out to notify their friends, only to be stopped by a harsh glower from their teacher.

One particular girl - a baby pink haired student who was a close friend to the stunned brunette - was the only girl to immediately leave her seat to help her friend up, since the brunette's raven haired best friend was scoffing at both her stupid image and the idiotic culprit. However, as her friend attempted to help her up by holding her arm tightly, she sighted something within the space underneath the desk.

A high-pitched screech emitted from her throat as she backed away hastily from the scary item.

After a few seconds of immense shock and goosebumps, her fear was replaced with outrage as she gripped the broken seat hard.

_Damn him... is that how that moron is going to play this game?! Because I'm going to kill him today._

* * *

In another classroom, the whole class flinched at the sudden shriek emitting throughout the school grounds.

However, one boy in the back seat - a ebony-haired student with his legs placed upon the table, snickered quietly in understanding.

_She's going to come get me today for sure._

* * *

_******A/N: My fourteenth story. This one won't be over ten chapters, and I'm hoping to have enough motivation for quicker-than-usual updates. I'm guessing five or six... maybe even seven. Dunno 'bout that. Well, enjoy! Actually, no. this is a prologue. But still.**_

_**Yo yo yo! My real intro. I'm not sure if this can make it as a prologue, but I really hope you guys got interested. So please review about the good, bad and the ugly! ^^**_


	2. Day Zero: Divided

_**A Puppeteer's Heart Strings**_

_**Divided**_

If there was a word to describe Alice Academy, it would be _divided. _It wasn't the random gunshots, nor the cluster of animals surrounding the door of one of the senior classrooms. Not even the flamboyant English teacher whose looks and attire could easily pass him off as a hermaphrodite in an eternal ballet recital was the cause of it.

When all the students would flock out of their classrooms for lunch, immediately students would whisper to each other as they suspiciously looked around the halls. Others made bets as they lined up in front of a pale, ebony black haired senior who looked slightly gleeful at the extremely long line in front of her small table. It never failed to place new students under the illusion that a conspiracy was running throughout the school, and when each of them would figure it out, they would widen their eyes in surprise when in truth, it wasn't as much of a big deal as it had made out to be.

Yet they would all be drawn into the matter unconsciously without fail.

* * *

It was a peaceful, warm day in Tokyo as the students of Alice Academy hurried out of their humid classrooms in their crisp summer uniforms. Most students were only focused on rushing towards the blissful air conditioning of the school cafeteria, and all the others were excited to make their regular bet on an eventual victor.

However, none of the students expected the face-off they were expecting to come so early.

After many months of chaos within the school, they all could tell if a major fight was going to begin any time soon - thus it would lead to the majority of the present students swarming towards the location the face-off was rumoured to occur at, followed with an equal amount of cheers and groans when it was all over. Even the teachers had acknowledged it as a source of _entertainment_ for every single person in Alice Academy. Overall, it was a basic routine the whole school had memorised - catalyst, meeting, cold war, hot war, conclusion, money collection from Imai Hotaru - which would repeat any time after.

One obvious example of a potential catalyst was a dishevelled brunette storming through the hallways with an expression of outrage and a clown doll being squeezed into half its size by her steel grip.

As she passed the onlookers without a concern of her surroundings, they would immediately follow her, knowing that it would be an eventful lunchtime that they couldn't miss.

This female was Yukihira Mikan, a second year at Alice Academy, the only niece of the Principal and one of the members of the regular face-offs the students regularly observed. One of the most beautiful girls in the school - as chosen by all the males due to her mesmerising brown eyes and her pale skin - she loved and treated everyone she met with respect and tolerance, and a gleeful expression was almost always displayed on her face.

_Almost _always.

Everyone present in the cafeteria flinched when the door hit the back wall with a sound which echoed through the large room. They all turned towards the sound - some in curiosity, others in annoyance - but when they saw the seething brunette glaring towards the table in the far corner, they all seemed to understand what was going to happen.

She wasn't required to scan the cafeteria for the raven haired boy whose neck she wanted to wring, as it was common knowledge that he - along with his best friend Ruka - always sat in the table furthest to the door. Adding to her wrath, he was the only one who didn't turn around. Mikan started to mutter unintelligibly as she made swift footsteps towards him, and the nearing audience cringed at the sight of the deformed clown in her fist.

As soon as she was merely a few metres away from the inattentive male, her arm snapped up over her head and sharply whipped forward - the clown doll flying out of her hand. Her perfect aim was to be thanked, as she had pegged it at his head with a satisfying squeak, before it bounced off to skid towards the wall heartlessly.

The sudden pain in the back of his head caused him to curse louder than he intended. The bystanders watched tensely as they confirmed that she had successfully managed to provoke him - Hyuuga Natsume.

Yukihara Mikan's arch nemesis was in the form of a crimson-eyed second year with tanned skin and the occasional piercing glare. He was known to be everything that Mikan was not - sadistic, impolite, and indifferent. He was never one to smile at anyone, and only his best friend Ruka could recall a time when he did. But despite his unappealing demeanour, he - just like Mikan - was popular with the opposite gender due to his good looks. Both students were also admired in their own gender as a role model; someone whose traits they envied yet looked up to.

However, if there was one thing which made these two similar, it was the fact that they loathed each other - they were the banes of each other's existence.

The students in the cafeteria kept their eyes glued at the sight of the raging duo, and the majority felt that the happenings at school resembled a live drama so much that a fan base had immediately formed after the first explosive confrontation.

Knowing exactly the culprit of the painful strike to his cranium, he turned in his seat to shoot a seething glare at the brunette. The people who were in his peripheral vision shrunk back immediately though the true target of which he intended to intimidate was the straight-backed girl who didn't flinch in the slightest.

After what seemed to be a haunting, intense silence which people felt lasted much more than a mere few minutes, Mikan finally opened her mouth to speak.

"You sore bastard. That was completely underhanded!" She spat at him, her fists tightening by her sides. Natsume was confused for a split second, but when he caught sight of her chosen projectile - which he had used for a prank - and grinned devilishly at his success.

"But it worked. Yet again, since when were you _not _underhanded?" Natsume felt his ego boost as she stood there in such a dishevelled, angry state due to a little prank, and he wondered in amusement why it had made such an effect on her - was she that short-tempered?

"But seriously? I can tell you got that freaky clown doll from a second-hand store. What is with you and the effort you put into these stupid pranks?! You're so sadistic!" Mikan scoffed, her voice gradually projecting louder throughout the cafeteria.

Natsume clicked his tongue in annoyance, his irritation evidently growing by the second - though unlike Mikan, he was putting some effort into keeping his cool. Though he was quite confused as to why cats of different colours and sizes were slinking through the legs of the people outside into the cafeteria.

"Says the girl who acts like a six year old who knows how to swear. No wonder you wear such childish panties… _Polka dots_." _So it comes down to childish name-calling, eh Hyuuga? _Mikan asked him silently as she prepared for a most likely deoxygenated war of words. _Well, let's see about that._

"Pervert!"

"Baby."

"Retard!"

"Imbecile."

"Jerk!"

"Polka dots."

"_What did you say?!_" That did it. Swiftly closing the space between them, she grabbed the top of his tie, jerking his head forward to be on the same level as her own. He was completely unfazed by the sudden action, but he was slightly put off guard when she flicked open a bottle from behind her back and poured the clear contents over his hair, his clothes, everywhere. Mikan huffed in satisfaction, whereas Natsume arched an eyebrow at the seemingly harmless attack.

"Tch. Is that all you can do? _Water?_ How pathetic." Natsume sneered as he grabbed a fistful of her long hair and tightened his grip, causing her to screech in pain.

"Eeeek! Let go, you!" She struggled in his grasp as she attempted to catch hold of something. Watching her flinch as she searched, he felt a sudden surge of pleasure - he was known for his sadistic ways throughout the school grounds.

He leaned down towards her ear, causing the audience to gasp as they expected something big. However, all he did was whisper a few words unintelligible to everyone but Mikan.

"Don't even bother, Yukihira. You know you can't beat me."

Instead of the reaction he was expecting from her, Mikan displayed a smug grin as his words. Though he didn't dare to show his shock in front of anyone, _especially _her. "You always underestimate me, Hyuuga." She muttered as she endured the stinging pain radiating through her strands of hair.

He followed her gaze to the door, where many observers gathered - to his displeasure. But what he was supposedly awaiting for was definitely _not _what he had expected.

Sliding between the legs of the people gathered in the doorway, were cats. Walking towards _him_.

Natsume took the brief time to count how many there were, but he put the matter aside as he deducted that there were more than _twenty _cats approaching him. Remembering that Mikan's hair was still in his grasp, he grasped even tighter than before, listening to her wails.

"What is this?!" He spat at the brunette, who smirked weakly at her attacker.

"What I poured onto you before, Natsume… wasn't one hundred per cent water."

Mikan watched in satisfaction as the cats she had asked Sumire to lead on finally found the source of their hunger, as well as the smell of catnip - which she had combined with the water in order to achieve this result. Natsume - as well as the smarter members of the audience - figured this out easily, but only one was muttering profanities under his breath.

As he made no move to back away nor let go of Mikan's hair, this provided an easier catch for the leader cat, which immediately pounced - followed by the many other cats behind it.

* * *

She rubbed her temples soothingly in an attempt to rid herself of the headache she was having at that moment. Mikan was leaning her thin back against trunk of a lone sakura tree as she exhaled deeply - to no avail. She had no clue why her head was so irritatingly sore - all her exams had been completed, Hotaru hadn't hit her with that menacing cannon recently, and she hadn't even seen her eternal rival Natsume for days.

_If it isn't Hyuuga annoying me right now, why am I so…_

Her thoughts were immediately interrupted by the sound of a _thump _beside her in the grass. When she turned to see who it was, she couldn't help but let her mood dampen even further. Mikan turned her head away from him sharply, which unfortunately led to another painful throb radiating through her head. She was unable to hold back a groan as her hand returned to her forehead, and Natsume didn't bother showing an expression of curiosity.

"Your stupidity finally taking his toll, huh?" He nonchalantly asked, causing her to lightly growl under her breath.

"Go away, Hyuuga. I'm not in the mood."

Natsume detected the obvious. Usually she would react explosively at a comment like that, so seeing her look so calm - in comparison to anger and annoyance in general, anything would look calm - was not something he was used to seeing, as her enemy.

Natsume Hyuuga was feeling uncomfortable. Upon the realisation that he had only seen her in such a state, and others had seen more sides to her, something started to itch from inside him - though he had no idea why he was annoyed by the fact.

He felt his curiosity spark even further as his head told him to just walk away and leave her alone.

However, his heart knew that he wasn't one to _ever_ listen to Mikan Yukihira. His legs complied as he ended up sitting next to her casually, and he watched the wind brush the leaves of the tree lightly. From his peripheral vision, he could see her recognise his presence with a dissatisfied look.

"What are you still doing here?" It was now blatantly evident that she didn't want to deal with him at that moment, yet Natsume didn't feel like leaving.

Natsume shrugged. "Contributing to your migraine."

"Well you're succeeding, like always. And I'm serious, if you're still not planning on leaving, just… don't annoy me. Just for once."

He internally scolded himself for already defying his 'heart's declaration' that he would never listen to her - however, he somehow knew when to stop.

Mikan was slightly taken aback at the fact that he had obliged, but she tried not to let it show. Instead, she decided to take a quick glance at her eternal rival - only to notice things about him that she hadn't really paid much attention to before.

All she had known about Natsume's physical appearance before was that he was tan, with hair as black as ebony. However, at that moment when they weren't attempting to tear at each others' throats, she had let her conscience scan his features sneakily.

He was well-built, but he was nowhere near as muscled as the boys from the rugby club. His eyes were an odd shade of crimson, to Mikan's shock - even though she knew that she hadn't paid attention to him often, she was surprised at herself for not knowing about such an odd trait sooner. Even though she felt slightly gleeful that he _did _have flaws - particularly his extremely short eyebrows - Mikan could not deny that he was definitely the most good-looking guy in Alice Academy.

And she _hated _herself for thinking like that.

Natsume smirked as he realised that there was a certain pair of eyes on him.

"Why are you staring? I'm sorry, I don't date idiots."

His words snapped her out of her thoughts, and her resentment for him started to act up again. "I-I wasn't staring! And I would _never _date a jerk like you!"

She immediately dismissed the fact that she had thought he was handsome - her irritation with him had once again appeared, outweighing the fact.

"I'm sorry, I must've made a mistake. Of course you weren't staring at me." He spoke with a hint of sarcasm which she didn't detect, as she was stunned by the words themselves. Mikan thought it was too good to be true, until the next thing he said confirmed her belief. "You were _gawking_, rather."

"Ugh! I wasn't doing anything!" She felt her face heat up as she argued. "I-I seriously can't handle this. Just… shut up, okay?"

Therefore, the second moment of silence passed. Mikan angrily plucked small pieces of grass from the hill as Natsume watched - inconspicuously, of course.

The matter of whether Mikan was staring at him or not had sparked his curiosity - she was not the only one who hadn't analysed her rival head to toe. Strands of her silky brown hair had been tucked behind her ear as the rest spilled down to her waist. Even though she had the defiance to start an Academy-wide war, he was rather surprised to notice that her eyes still held a certain innocence to them - as though the childishly patterned undergarments hadn't said enough.

_Since when was she this…? _He couldn't think of a word to end his rhetorical question with, but the small matter was immediately pushed aside as he berated himself for considering it.

"Don't take your anger out on the grass. What did it ever do to you?" He absently asked, breaking the one-sided 'no talking rule' once again.

She scowled at the dark-haired boy only to suddenly make eye-contact with him, noticing the odd colour of his eyes a second time.

"Why are your eyes red?" Mikan blurted out unconsciously, and she internally smacked herself for it.

Natsume arched an eyebrow at the random question. "Why are your eyes brown?"

"I'm serious, Hyuuga."

"Well, I'm serious too, Yukihira."

"...Are you trying to make fun of me even in these circumstances? Tsk, forget about it." She clicked her tongue in annoyance, muttering to herself in irritation.

"What do you think?" Natsume had decided not to let the conversation go for unknown reasons - he felt that his mouth was moving on its own.

"What do I think? For what?" Unlike him, Mikan had already dismissed the talk about it.

"My eye colour. Isn't it obvious?"

"Is it really natural?" Mikan gasped, since the concept of contacts seemed more realistic to her.

The male nodded once in response. "My mother's side. Then her father's. Then his mother's. Then-"

"Okay, that's enough." She reprimanded, but she couldn't bring herself to be angry. Instead, Mikan felt amused. "Y'know, you kinda look like a vam-"

"Don't you dare dump that vampire crap on me." He growled, displeased with her comparison. "The fan-girls do it enough. And I intend on keeping it that way, if I can't get them to shut up."

"Hm? You do realise that you're telling _me_, your enemy, about this? Idiot." Various comparisons of Natsume and a vampire filtered through her mind, and she huffed in amusement.

Natsume, however, remained serious. "You're not a fan-girl, so don't bother." _Eh? ...What did he say? _

Before she could confirm, Natsume heaved himself off the hill. "So, how's your migraine?" Her thoughts had been interrupted as she came to the realisation that her headache had been long-forgotten.

Noticing the brief silence from the brunette, he smirked at her speechless expression. "You're welcome." He slowly drawled out, effectively rubbing it in her face.

_Did Natsume just… help me? _Even though it wasn't in the manner which help usually came from, she couldn't help but feel both touched and annoyed.

"Why?" She questioned him, as her prideful side took over.

"I haven't gotten you back for that catnip trick you pulled a few days ago, and I'm not going to prank a sick person - even if she's the noisiest kid in the school." Natsume explained with a taunting expression, as he nonchalantly stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"...I'm surprised we even had a rational conversation." Mikan admitted in disbelief, shaking her head.

"Same here. Probably the only time it'll ever happen." He replied before he turned away from the confused brunette sitting on the grassy hill.

As soon as he had left hearing range, Mikan exhaled. "...What the hell?"

* * *

_Kekekekekekeke…_

Behind the sakura tree, the red-skinned demon continued to gnaw his fingertips as he watched the events unfold between the two. He could tell that they both were in a state of confusion - and in the demon's case, a state of sheer vulnerability.

He didn't need to be a genius to know that this was the first time the two rivals had ever had such a rational conversation - and he was well aware that this even would serve as an effective catalyst for his plan's success.

_Perfect. I know that this won't be boring. Time to put this plan into action._

Mikan Yukihara, Natsume Hyuga.

They have finally been placed under the puppeteer's curse.

* * *

**_A/N: ...I feel that the last part was pretty dodgy. Haha._**

**_Yes, it took a really long time to update, and I apologise so many times for that. So this chapter - without the Author's Note - is 3190 words in total. ^^_**

**_After I finished A Maiden's Vendetta, this is the only Gakuen Alice story I'm currently writing. I did have a plan for an extended one-shot, but in the end I decided to use the plot for my own story. So hopefully I'll be able to update sooner from now on._**

**_Reviews are lovingly appreciated. ^^_**


	3. Day One: Concealed

**_A Puppeteer's Heart Strings_**

**_Concealed_**

_When a blue heart appears on your wrist you've been cursed to fall in love with the person who has the same tattoo within six days._

With heavy lidded eyes, the just-awoken brunette stared blankly at her right hand. Stretching her fingers absently, she curiously observed the strange mark on her hand as it bore with the distortions and movement of her skin without even the faintest sight of damage. Feeling more awake due to the strange sight, she used the fingers of her other hand to swiftly rub the mark without delicacy - to no avail, as there was no sign of it erasing from her hand.

Mikan knew for certain that she hadn't planned on getting a tattoo recently, nor was she drunk the previous evening.

_Did I draw it during class yesterday? But I don't remember owning a blue marker…_

Absently keeping her eyes on the blue heart, she swung her legs off her bed - her feet touching the soft carpet which she would usually enjoy in its comfort if it wasn't for the strange mark on her wrist. After unsuccessfully rubbing the heart off her skin, she stood up quickly and briskly walked to the small bathroom.

Instead of looking at her usually messy appearance in the mornings like she usually did, Mikan immediately turned the tap on and ran her wrist underneath the cold water. She did not flinch at the icy temperature of the water, as she was still too focused on finding the origin of the blue heart. However, the mark did not erase even the slightest – the heart still clean-edged and deep blue after ten minutes of rubbing, even though the skin around the mark was red as a result.

"What the…" She muttered as she pinched her skin for any faults, to no avail. "I definitely didn't draw this."

Mikan was shaken from the sudden appearance of the mark – but there was no logical conclusion for its existence which she could come up with. Thus, she changed into her uniform with a dazed expression – the brunette was too stunned by the turn of events.

When she was all prepared, she encountered another problem – the exposed heart.

Mikan didn't know whether to pass it off as a marking absently drawn during History class, or hide it from the public eye altogether.

In the end, she opted to hide it – there was a possibility that people wouldn't believe her, and her worried side weighed the chances of someone believing it was a tattoo instead.

Also, she didn't want to give Natsume a chance to pick on anything about her that day – no matter how inferior it was. Mikan shuddered, recalling the time when her chipped nail was the cause of one of their biggest, most controversial fights which also involved the relentless use of pepper – not the spray, but the very ingredient which flavoured dishes – and Anna's cute collection of colourful erasers.

The brunette shook her head, trying to erase both the bad memory and the guilt of destroying her good friend's favourite stationery pack.

Grabbing the nearest pair of gloves from the vanity, Mikan hurried to leave the home.

* * *

It was five minutes after she arrived at the school that she realised that she may have made the wrong decision because of two reasons.

The first pair she had taken from home was a pair of leather gloves, which would attract more attention than the blue heart itself.

It was summer. Wearing gloves in that particular season was next to pointless.

"What are the gloves for?" Hotaru asked when she arrived next to Mikan at the shoe lockers.

"Huh? Well… my hands feel really cold today-"

"It's summer." Her black-haired friend interrupted, stating the obvious.

"I know." Mikan sighed.

"So what are they for?" Hotaru asked once again, though she didn't seem genuinely interested.

"Well, my hands have really ugly rashes. I don't really want people to see them…" The brunette lied as she pulled her school shoes out of her locker and set them on the floor in front of her.

She could tell that Hotaru didn't believe her one bit, but the dark haired girl beside her chose not to bother prying in any further.

"Alright, but I believe that it's worse for your skin if you cover up rashes, especially with leather. But do as you wish." Hotaru spoke as she placed her shoes in the locker and walked away without a second glance – not even to wait for her best friend who was still wedging her foot into her shoe.

"W-Wait! Hotaru!"

* * *

"Sakura! Why are you wearing gloves?" Sumire asked as she raised an eyebrow – turning in her seat to talk to Mikan.

_She's the fifth person who's asking me that today! _Mikan thought to herself, regretting her decision already. Had she acted like the blue heart wasn't there, there was still a chance that she would go through the day unnoticed – but the young brunette also considered, two hours since she had discovered the strange marking, the possibility that she was overreacting.

"Well, I-" Mikan started – about to use the rash excuse once again – when Sumire interrupted her immediately with a raised hand.

"Wait, do I even want to know?" The seaweed green-haired girl monotonously questioned, glancing at her friend up and down. "You know what? Don't worry about it. For all I know, it's probably part of your next scheme against Natsume-kun. I never understood why you hate him so much, and why he bothers to fight back." Once again, she didn't give Mikan an opportunity to reply properly – and she had no clue that she had saved Mikan from having to lie for the fifth time that day.

However, the curly haired girl's statement about her curiosity regarding the origins of her rivalry with Natsume, Mikan unconsciously started to talk again with an increasing irritation at the thought of her crimson eyed rival.

"Why do I hate him?! I _despise _him!" She banged her fist on her desk like a political debater.

At the sudden raise of Mikan's voice, Sumire sighed at her sudden mood change. "Okay, calm down tiger. You think I don't know that? I just asked you why- oh great, everyone's looking at us!" She grumbled when she noticed the many pairs of eyes staring in their direction due to Mikan's outburst.

"Sorry Permy." Mikan smiled awkwardly as she attempted to ignore their newly gained audience, and then spoke in a quieter tone. "I hate him because-"

"Why aren't you all sitting down yet?" A gruff voice interrupted her, and Mikan was relieved that she didn't have to explain her reasons to Permy and receive a similar reaction to Hotaru. "I expect you to be in your seats by the bell!"

The brunette looked up to meet the cold glare of Jinno-sensei, who was most likely – to her – surprised that she was one of the few who had taken their seat prior to his arrival, and he didn't seem to look pleased about it. Having nothing to tell her off about made him grumpy.

Mikan could see it in his eyes.

She let out a quiet sigh when Jinno-sensei looked away from her with no harsh reprimands, as he started the lesson.

* * *

Mikan hadn't seen Natsume all day.

Instead, she was greeted with the people she usually talked to – but the difference was that they all questioned her about why she was wearing gloves, to her dismay.

However, she much preferred the repetitive questions rather than seeing Natsume again – she had no idea how to face him after the events of the previous day. Mikan had hoped that things would go back to normal, as if their rational conversation never occurred, but she couldn't stop thinking of it whenever someone mentioned Natsume.

_"I haven't gotten you back for that catnip trick you pulled a few days ago, and I'm not going to prank a sick person - even if she's the noisiest kid in the school." _

_"...I'm surprised we even had a rational conversation." _

_"Same here. Probably the only time it'll ever happen."_

_So embarrassing, I'm probably the only one thinking like this. This is definitely nothing to him._

Her thoughts were confirmed when she absently opened her locker and was greeted with the familiar face of the same clown doll from the previous prank. She _did _have a particular fear of the usually comedic characters.

"_Hyuuga!_"

Her plan to survive her curious friends and ignore him for the day had been scrapped by then. Mikan's sole priority was to find the raven-haired teen at all costs – her awkward feelings from yesterday forgotten instantly.

* * *

The brunette eventually found him sitting on a tree branch, asleep.

It was a rare sight for Mikan of all people in the school – being off-guard often meant that it would eventually lead to their loss, and it was usually the brunette girl who had to suffer this fate.

Thus, seeing Natsume with no shield nor guard gave her the perfect opportunity to take revenge – but for reasons unknown, she couldn't bring herself to move from where she stood in the grass below the tree.

Not only was seeing him asleep a rare occurrence for her, it was also seeing him in such a peaceful state – unwary of what was around him, especially the cross girl who wanted to throw an egg at his unsuspecting self – and in a moment of ignorance of his surroundings, including Mikan.

For the first time since she had met the popular prodigy student, she didn't want to do anything to take advantage of his lack of guard.

_What am I doing?! I can't face him like this._

She took one more look at her rival, and to her dismay she recalled her own thoughts about his looks the day before – and though she wasn't being teased about it, she was embarrassed. Even though she denied it in her mind, the brunette could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she sneakily looked at him once again.

_Wait, why am I still here?! I shouldn't be like this, especially when it's related to Natsume!_ She scolded herself once again as she hit the sides of her head for the purpose of 'snapping out of it'._ I have to leave. Now._

Mikan turned on her heel, facing away from Natsume, as she started to walk away briskly – and she was thankful that no-one was around so there would be no way of Natsume finding out that she had _hesitated _to prank him – which would easily lead to her humiliation in her book. However, she turned back to look at him once again – which she continually told herself that she was simply checking that he was still asleep – and as she was standing in a different angle than previously, Mikan noticed something odd.

A thick bandage had been wrapped around his wrist.

_What a coincidence…_

* * *

As the school day was bringing itself to a close, Mikan groaned. She hadn't discovered the reason why there was a blue heart on her wrist – if there even was a reason other than her blankness during Mathematics, but she confirmed there was due to the heart _still _being intact after repetitive visits to the bathroom for washing her hands – nor had she successfully taken her revenge on Natsume for the clown prank.

A small part of Mikan found it odd that Natsume had reused a prank, but she passed it off because he most likely knew that she was scared to death of the clown doll. She admitted it with dismay.

However, as she took out the clown doll – with caution – in order to discard it, the conversation of a group of girls near her locker caught her attention.

"I can't believe you're still talking about that school myth. I thought you agreed with us that it's completely fake."

Mikan's hand froze within her locker, and she glanced to her left. However, the girls' vision of her was blocked due to the locker door, and she quietly eavesdropped without the need to move or pretend to be doing something. Her intentions were of pure curiosity.

"But other schools don't have myths like we do, isn't it weird?"

_Our school has a myth? I never knew that…_

"It just means that we have a student who likes to scare people. It's obviously not real."

"Y-Yeah_._ Let's go home."

Upon the realization that their conversation had ended regarding the myth, Mikan immediately closed her locker – which made the people around her flinch in shock – and approached the girls as they walked closer.

"Oh, Sakura-senpai!" One girl exclaimed in surprise as they all wore shocked expressions – mainly because she had seemingly popped out of nowhere.

"I overheard your conversation about a school myth… could you explain it to me?" Mikan asked, straight to the point.

"You don't know about the myth, sempai?"

The girls looked at each other, their eye glances confirming that Mikan was probably too engrossed with her revenge tactics to overhear gossip.

"I don't…" The brunette senior trailed as she digressed at the thought that most people knew of this myth – and the girls in front of her were evidently younger students. "…was I supposed to?"

The group of girls panicked at the sight of Mikan, who seemed to take the situation too seriously. "No, of course not, Sakura-sempai! It's really nothing, since it's a myth and all. But we can tell you."

Mikan leaned forward slightly as the girl in the front muttered the words.

"There's a myth in this school that when a blue heart appears on your wrist you've been cursed to fall in love with the person who has the same tattoo within six days."

* * *

_Kekekekeke... she knows. Let's see how she fares with thi_s.

* * *

_**A/N: Let me inform you of my intentions for this story. From the fact that it's a six duration, there probably won't be any more than ten chapters. So in comparison to others which I'm working on now, it won't be very long. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please give me some feedback by reviewing! :)**_


	4. Day Two: Observations

Dedicated to: buttercupbella, for encouraging me (forcing me) to write this next chapter. If it wasn't for her, I wouldnt've gotten off my lazy butt. And of course, dedicated to all of my readers. :)

* * *

_**A Puppeteer's Heart Strings**_

**Observations**

* * *

Mikan was not aware of how much time had passed.

She simply continued to jog the circumference of the oval across the road from her home. She had intended to keep it short, as she had a Japanese test to cram for, but she had barely managed to stay aware of her surroundings – the time intervals between her sighting of the only picnic table were gradually becoming shorter and shorter.

_Picnic table… post box… old couple… sandwich… Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's concert poster… stick… picnic table…_

Mikan was also able to recall the smaller details – how there were two fluorescent concert posters pasted on the telephone pole, the disposed sandwich was composed of tomato and cheddar cheese, and that the names of the couple were Takao and Miyu.

Nonetheless, the cycle had continued for over forty minutes.

The repetitive panoramic scene which she continued to witness eventually led her to memorise all of the main components of the oval.

_Ugh, I feel like a satellite for Google Maps._

However, Mikan very much preferred the boring replay of scenery over the information she had heard the previous afternoon, and had burned itself into her mind ever since. Her main purpose in suddenly going out for a run was most definitely not for her physical health, but it was the only way she was able to distract herself without getting into trouble.

"_There's a myth in this school that when a blue heart appears on your wrist you've been cursed to fall in love with the person with the same tattoo within six days."_

At times, she had failed in her purpose of keeping the junior's spooky words out of her head. The night before, she hadn't planned on believing it, but the marking on her wrist – which she hadn't bothered to cover up, since it was a weekend – was too strong a support of the myth that she couldn't pass it off as just a _myth._

_Or maybe it was that stupid Hyuuga Natsume. He could've pranked me in my sleep._

Eventually she discarded the notion, as the heart was still vibrant and clean-edged as the day before.

It didn't mean that she was able to stop thinking about the matter, to her digress. _But if it's true… who's the other person with the heart?_

In a brief moment of rash desperation, she made a move to slap herself, but Mikan briefly questioned why she wasn't able to feel a thing before roughly bumping into someone.

"Shit…!" Mikan could hear a familiar voice groan before she felt her head hit the ground hard, losing consciousness.

* * *

The first thing that Mikan saw was a burning white light above her. As soon as she made a feeble attempt to lift her head, she felt a searing pain in her skull. The brunette squealed as she quickly moved her arm in order to support her head, and to her confusion, felt the texture of a bandage firmly wrapped over her long hair.

"Tch. You're finally awake." A voice beside her scoffed, with a tone laced with irritation.

Slightly turning her head to the right, her eyes met with the crimson eyes of her rival – however, the pain was too untolerable for her to try and appear annoyed at his presence.

"Hyuuga Natsume? What are you doing here?" Mikan muttered, still quite unhappy that she had encountered him on a weekend.

Natsume crossed his arms and clicked his tongue. "Being your clumsy self, you hit your head after you rather ungraciously ran into me."

As soon as the order of events had come back into her memory, Mikan gasped, her expression morphing into rage.

"So it was _you_! It's your fault that I'm in…" She glanced around at her surroundings, expecting the familiar sight of the oval's circumference now embedded into her head despite the concussion, but instead of seeing grass and wood, she noticed that she was surrounded by beds and tall machines. "…hospital? How the hell did I get here?"

"Idiot." Natsume sneered.

"Excuse me?!" Mikan raised her voice, and earned a chorus of shushes from the other patients around her, causing her to mouth an apology before sending a glower to a grinning Natsume.

"It's your entire fault." She spat, her voice returning to a neutral volume, yet not losing any hint of annoyance in her tone.

"You should be apologising to me, Yukihara. _You're_ the one who bumped into _me_. I was the one who brought you here, just to let you know." He informed her as-a-matter-of-factly, arching a dark eyebrow. "And since I'm the one who was with you when you were in one of your crazy, stupid worlds, I have to stay here until the doctor arrives. You're seriously creating trouble wherever you go."

Upon the realisation, she turned away from him, embarrassed. A small part of Mikan felt remorseful about blaming him for her concussion, as well as yelling at him pointlessly – although she hated him with a passion, there were rare times when the caring part of her would come into play around Natsume, including that moment.

In actual fact, she liked to think that, but it was the first time it had done so.

"Why did you bring me here, though?" Despite all this, Mikan couldn't bring herself to apologise to Natsume as easily as she had did for the patients.

He remained silent. The raven haired male himself was confused as to why he had immediately chosen to take her to the hospital rather than just wait until someone else were to take her – which he had a feeling that the Natsume three days before would have done in revenge for the catnip incident.

Without a sufficient reply, he simply chose to make another retort. "Would you have preferred that I leave you unconscious on the ground?"

"You should have. The pigeons could've carried me instead." Mikan was feeling even more embarrassed in front of her arch nemesis, to the extent that she was sprouting nonsense.

"Tch. I'll just leave if you're so ungrateful." He sneered, evidently annoyed, as he stood up from his seat – his sudden movement startling Mikan.

"Hey… you're supposed to stay until the doctor comes!" She blurted, off-guard.

"They don't know who I am, and they can't tell me what I can and can't do."

A pained feeling washed over her as she watched him walk out – and strangely enough, it wasn't because of her head. Mikan was confused about what she was feeling at that moment. She was quite confident that this was what she wanted – for the bane of her existence to leave the room and let her rest in peace, despite his rare generosity, which she had begrudgingly started to appreciate. However, she was – in addition to feeling guilty – upset at how he was still sounding quite angry.

She didn't want to be alone, either.

"Wait. Stay." Mikan instinctively called out, as soon as she snapped out of her remorseful reverie.

In the end, Mikan had decided that being in the presence of her arch enemy was more preferable than thinking hard about the myth.

Luckily, Natsume paused in his step as soon as he heard Mikan call out to him, sensing the sad undertone in her voice.

He initially had no clue as to what he was going to do – go back or leave.

The side of him of which loathed Mikan Sakura was urging him to leave her in her vulnerable state, since she had angered him too many times during the period in which he had known her. However, he was just as split and confused as Mikan. Natsume could admit to herself that even though he considered her irritating and too defiant for her own good, she was far from the most hated person on his list – considering that third place was quite far.

He also told himself that there was a reason why he hadn't left her on the ground when she had bumped into him, and considering that Mikan had never displayed such need in front of him, he eventually couldn't bring himself to walk forward.

_I've done it once, might as well for a second time._

Mikan was absolutely bewildered when he paused and slowly turned on his heel, facing her. She had been so sure that he was going to continue walking, judging from the way he most likely hated her. She had thought that he calling out to him was merely a vain attempt for something which even she wasn't so sure about.

She inhaled deeply – and it felt as if she was swallowing a tornado – before choking out a single word which she never thought she would say to _Natsume _of all people.

"…Sorry," and after a held in sigh, "and thank you."

_Oh god. I'm doomed. He's going to tease me forever._

During the silence which existed between the two rivals, Mikan was swiftly coming up with his possible reactions – mostly ranging from a spurt of teenage arrogance, and a dreadful taunting.

However, his response was much simpler than she had expected.

"Jeez… you're so troublesome." Natsume shook his head in disbelief, with a hint of a smile on his lips once again, before retracing his steps and sitting on the plastic chair next to her bed.

…_Yep. The concussion's doing things to me. He would never smile at me like that._

"…Out of all the things that you could come up with, _pigeons_?" Natsume suddenly scoffed.

"Shut up, Natsume."

"Calling me by my first name. You've become fond."

"Yeah right." Mikan muttered, embarrassed once again, as she looked down at her lap.

* * *

Their precedented taunts, insults and childish teasing eventually led to the pair huddled around a piece of paper and a green pencil which Natsume had stealthily taken from the kids' waiting area.

"You're a terrible artist." Natsume blatantly stated as he cringed at Mikan's drawing of a teddy bear.

"Excuse me?! I am not a bad artist!" Offended, Mikan gasped, holding the paper as if it were a treasure map.

"Who the hell draws eyes like that?" He continued to criticise, drawing her attention to the bear unusually wide eyes. "It looks pretty pissed off."

Mikan gasped even louder. "How dare you?! I'd like to see you do better!" She challenged, roughly pushing the paper and pencil at his chest.

Natsume snorted in amusement before firmly setting the paper flat on the mattress space next to Mikan, and started sketching – his hand moving the pencil at a rapid pace.

As soon as he started drawing, she had realised that the fact that he was an Art student had slipped her mind when she had childishly challenged him to a drawing contest.

In the time span of a minute, Natsume had successfully drawn a detailed sketch of - to Mikan's confusion – a balloon.

"…" Mikan simply raised an eyebrow at the simple drawing.

After a brief moment of silence, Mikan questioned him, evidently confused. "…a balloon? I thought you were an art student. Is that the best you can do?"

"I didn't have to try hard. Because it's obvious that this drawing beats yours any day." Natsume explained, with an arrogant grin, as Mikan's jaw hung open.

"Rude! You should've at least drawn something harder. At least it wouldn't have offended me so much." She made an attempt to reprimand him, tapping his drawing with unneeded force.

"My purpose in your life is to continually offend you, so I believe I've done my job." He retorted as-a-matter-of-factly, feeling victorious.

In strong disagreement with his statement, she violently shook her head in denial. "No. Draw something else."

"What the hell? Why should I?"

"I'm really pissed that you drew a balloon instead of something which I can acknowledge its superiority over my bear." She emphasized, banging her fist on the side of the bed, in demand.

"Wow. I never expected Mikan Sakura to use such long words in conversa-"

He was interrupted by Mikan, as she shoved the paper and pencil into his hands once again.

"Ugh. Fine, you pushy moron." He muttered in surrender, evidently irritated. "Now keep your eyes forward, and don't move."

The stern tone of his voice kept her frozen, as she forced herself to ignore his presence beside her while staring forward. "Why?"

"Don't talk." He ordered, thus ending all feeble arguments from the brunette.

Natsume looked up from the paper to briefly scan her – however, he ended up staring for longer than intended. He noticed her long eyelashes, her small nose, and her silky hair spilling through the gaps of the bandage around her head. Despite having hit her head, she had maintained a straight posture comparable to the nobility, and her eyes were wide and curious – and he could tell that she was too curious about what he was doing from the look in her eyes.

It was the first time that he was able to observe her up close, without being taunted because of it.

"Natsume, are you done yet? I'm tired of sitting like this." She started to whine, with her gaze still concentrated away from him.

"There's something called patience, Mikan. You should learn it." Natsume snapped out of his reverie, and retorted immediately before placing his pencil on the paper.

Mikan could barely hear the sound of pencil against paper beside her. At times, she felt too curious to resist, and she would glance to the right and see him draw. She was barely able to notice the expression on his face – Mikan was surprised to see the passionate look he held as he drew, and at that point in time she was able to see a completely different side of Natsume.

"Didn't I tell you? Look forward."

She was confused as to why she was more intimidated by his tone while he was drawing than how he spoke to her on other occasions – usually arguments.

"Done." He finally confirmed as he dropped the pencil on the mattress, and Mikan immediately moved out of her position and snatched the paper off him.

She was bewildered at what she saw – he had managed to draw _her _in the matter of two minutes.

Natsume was able to capture almost every detail of her face and neck, and the drawing of her was in exactly the same posture. He had even drawn her head without the thick bandage.

"Ah, Yukihara-san, you're awake."

Mikan looked up from the picture, and saw that the doctor had finally arrived. When her attention had diverted from the picture, Natsume snatched it back from her and swiftly tore it in half.

"Wait, Natsume! What are you-" She paused mid-speech as he handed half of the paper to her.

"Keep it." He simply ordered before heading out while holding the other piece of paper, without a second glance.

Shocked, Mikan looked down at the piece of paper in her hands. The tear had managed to separate the two drawings, and Mikan had received the half where her full portrait was drawn.

* * *

Natsume felt right out of his mind.

He had intended on staying for a few seconds longer, but he had eventually seen something which caused him to leave quicker than expected.

When she had used her right hand to grab the sketch in his hands, he had seen a blue heart on her wrist.

_It's the same as mine. What the hell?!_

With the other half of the paper in his left hand, he ran his fingers through his tousled hair – only to come face to face with his own heart mark on his wrist.

"This isn't right. What the _ is going on?!" He groaned, as he ruffled his own hair due to stress.

After sighing deeply, he looked down at the scrap of paper in his hand, and he clicked his tongue in annoyance. Upon realising that he took the picture of Mikan's bear rather than the portrait he had drawn, he internally scolded himself for being so reckless.

Despite all this, however, he shoved the paper on his pocket and walked out of the hotel in a daze.

He wasn't in that much of a daze not to notice a slight movement from behind him, as well as a strange chuckle. Natsume turned quickly on his heel, and be was barely able to catch a glimpse of a small, red figure running away from him.

In contradiction to his rational mindset, he immediately followed.

* * *

**_A/N: OKAY. PLEASE GUYS, FORGIVE MY SINS. I AM SO SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED. BEING A SENIOR IS SO HARD. ;A;_**

**_Luckily, I've been having a fanfiction writing spree lately. During these past three days, I've managed to write five one-shots. Yep, I'm surprised too. And since my motivation hasn't disappeared yet, I decided to update a long chapter for your guys, because I love you. I hope you're still supporting me, because I seriously feel bad._**

**_In order to say sorry, I've written something else, just for my readers. :) It's a prequel of this story, called Impression, and it's about how Mikan and Natsume were arch enemies in the first place. Also, there's some looking into what Natsume really feels, so I'd really appreciate it if you read and reviewed it! :)_**

**_I write because of you guys and your support. So please review! :)_**

**_-Jess_**


	5. Day Three: Predictions

_**A Puppeteer' Heart Strings**_

**Predictions**

* * *

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

The only thing she could hear that morning was the sound of a leaking tap from the nearby bathroom.

It had been the case ever since she had woken up two hours ago with a splitting headache and a sweaty forehead. Usually, the easily annoyed female would have immediately stood up to tightly turn off the tap in order to maintain her sanity, but as soon as he mother noticed that she was awake, she was instantly forced to swallow two painkillers and was put back into bed.

"You're not going anywhere today, Mikan. Rest." Those were her mother's last words before she closed the bedroom door behind her.

"But wait, the tap-"

Mikan's call had been left unattended, hence her momentary irritation.

However, a part of her had actually hoped that the tap would be distracting enough to keep her mind off everything else going on in her life – and on usual days, it worked more than effectively – but unfortunately, when she needed it the most, the tap did almost nothing to divert her attention to other things.

It only served as a background rhythm in her mind, as her thoughts led to different thoughts in coherence to the beats of the tap.

She could only for the impossible – that for the time being, her mind would shut down. Because for every minute that passed, she was becoming even more confused.

Mikan didn't know why she was thinking so much about yesterday's occurrences, and she hoped sincerely that the fact that recently she had spent a lot of time reminiscing in those yesterdays wouldn't be a permanent thing.

She shifted her position in her bed, so that she was facing one of her bedside tables. Her eye caught the very thing which reminded her of the day before when she almost successfully forgot about it.

The picture of her, on a ripped piece of paper, drawn with nothing but a green pencil.

She wondered if drawing people in green made them look prettier.

Mikan sighed as she stared at the picture while letting her head sink into her pillow. She reached over and picked up the piece of paper – the brunette couldn't bring herself to keep her eyes off it, or even to stop thinking about it.

She somehow felt attached to the drawing, even if it was drawn by her arch-enemy.

_Damn it, Mikan! Stop it!_ She scolded herself internally, and without a second thought, hit her forehead.

She had long forgotten about the concussion from the day before – it was the only thing from the previous day which she had successfully stopped thinking about.

"Agh!" She grunted as she held her head in her hand, and she barely noticed the sound of the front door opening.

Assuming that it was her mother coming home to retrieve something she had forgotten, Mikan quickly rested on the pillow again, in case Yuka were to check if she was fooling around. As she heard footsteps approaching, Mikan immediately folded up the paper and hid it underneath her pillow before she gripped the edge of her blanket. She stared at the closed door blankly as the footsteps became louder, but she shortly realised that her mother's footsteps didn't sound the same as usual.

Mikan arched an eyebrow as she saw the door knob twist, and then the door was pushed open.

"You're such a troublesome person." Hotaru sighed as she entered the bedroom – a jug of water and a cup in her hands.

"Hotaru?" Mikan lifted her head at face her best friend, of whom pushed her head back down firmly but still gently. "What are you doing here?"

"Your mother just called me to take care of a rowdy kid of hers." Hotaru explained with a tone of displeasure as she filled the cup with water and handed it to Mikan, who graciously accepted it.

"Thanks for coming, Hotaru." She thanked before bringing the cup of water to her lips.

"In return, argue with Hyuuga more. Because I need more merchandise." Her best friend quickly ordered, and Mikan couldn't help but sigh at her greediness.

But she froze as she drank out of her cup, because of the thought of having to argue with Natsume after all that had happened for the past few days. In truth, she had never thought of what would happen after those meetings.

She brought the cup away from her mouth and forcefully gulped the water down her throat.

"I'll try." She reassured Hotaru when she snapped out of her small reverie, hoping that her best friend wouldn't notice anything.

Unfortunately, Hotaru Imai was a genius not only in school, but reading Mikan Sakura like a book.

"I thought arguing with Hyuuga was something second nature to you. Why are you saying that you're going to 'try'?"

Mikan was rendered speechless, and in panic she raised the cup to her lips again.

Hotaru continued without hesitation, and the next words she said made Mikan sputter – resulting in the water spraying all over her pillow and bed sheets.

"Are you in love with him?"

* * *

Eventually, the two best friends fought over a pillow. A wet pillow, because of the fact that the water Mikan was drinking sprayed out of her mouth due to the shocking question from Hotaru.

Mikan apparently didn't mind how wet and germy the pillow was. She wanted it to stay in its place on her bed, and she didn't care about how worse her health would be if she kept it.

Uncharacteristically, Hotaru was determined to take the pillow away. She could tell that something about her best friend was off, and she used the excuse of changing the pillow cover to find out exactly what it was.

The fight over the pillow resulted in Hotaru's victory, as well as a shocking revelation which left Mikan unable to bluff and Hotaru foreseeing something which would really change Mikan's life – as well as her own profits.

Mikan gave up in trying to hide what she had placed underneath her pillow.

"So you 'talked' to Hyuuga yesterday." Hotaru questioned her as she stared at the mini-sized portrait of Mikan.

"Yes."

She didn't bother hiding the turn of events from Hotaru anymore.

Hotaru remained calm throughout her interrogation. "And he drew a picture of you."

"Yes." Reluctantly, Mikan repeated her answer.

"And he was the reason why I'm here in your house, having to take care of you."

"…Yes." She hesitated, but still remained honest.

It was then when Hotaru finally lost a little bit of her well maintained calm. "I'm going to kill him as soon as I see him at school tomorrow."

"Hotaru…" Mikan sighed, slightly put-off by the fact that Hotaru was more disappointed by the fact that she was forced to spend the day with her, rather than Mikan's rather risky involvement with the one responsible.

"I'm not an idiot like you, Mikan. I could tell that there was something different about you, ever since Friday," Hotaru scoffed.

"Friday?" The brunette asked – trying to recall what had happened on Friday.

"You idiot. Wearing leather gloves during summer. Like that wouldn't raise suspicion. I knew you were hiding something," Her best friend stated before grabbing hold of Mikan's right hand, revealing the blue heart on her wrist.

She raised an eyebrow at the strange sight, before continuing, "What is this? Did you get a tattoo Thursday night? Because I highly doubt that it's permanent marker, no matter how distracted you become during class."

"I-I don't know, Hotaru…" Mikan sighed, distressed, "I only heard about one possible reason for why it's there, but it's really ridiculous. I doubt it's even true."

Hotaru always had a knack for mystery, but she preferred to keep her interest hidden, as she let go of Mikan's hand and pulled the moist cover off the pillow. "What's the story?"

"No, it's really stupid. I really don't think it's true, so don't worry about it."

Mikan really didn't want to explain the myth to Hotaru. She found it somewhat embarrassing to just explain such an irrational idea, even if it was her no-nonsense best friend asking for it.

"Well you should feel lucky that for once, I want to hear some of the stupid things which come out of your mouth." Hotaru scoffed as she made her way towards the cabinet in Mikan's room for a clean pillow cover.

"You're really mean today, Hotaru!"

"Thank you."

"So, what's the story?"

Mikan sighed, before eventually choosing to blurt it out. "…Something to do with falling in love with the person who has the same tattoo in six days."

Her best friend's reply was surprisingly normal and nonchalant, as if she hadn't just heard about the possibility of a curse. "I see."

The brunette turned her hand to analyse the heart on her wrist, and just like the morning when she had discovered its existence, the edges were clean and the colour was still vibrant and unfazed. Mikan was starting to become scared of the reason why it was on her wrist, even when it already sounded impossible to believe. Her fingers started to twitch, and she swallowed before looking back up at an approaching Hotaru.

"I told you it's really ridiculous, Hotaru. Do you see why I didn't want to say it?" She whined as she saw the black haired girl's indifferent facial expression – partly because the only way she could decipher the emotions of the genius was to get her to directly speak of them, which in fact rarely happened.

"I've already heard about it," Hotaru explained as-a-matter-of-factly, "You're just slow in finding things out."

Mikan gasped. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"

"You never asked," was her simple reply as she replaced the now clean pillow on the bed behind where Mikan sat up.

The brunette looked back down at her hands. The sight of the heart was still haunting her mind, and in her mind, she refused to believe it.

_Of course it's not the case… I mean, why did I believe it in the first place! It's only a stupid rumour, or it could even be a stupid prank from Natsume! Maybe he spread that rumour around the school, broke into my house in the middle of the night, and tattooed this onto my wrist! That's definitely it! …because really, who would I fall in love with in six days?_

The thought of falling in love made her wonder. There were many available males in the school, but she wasn't able to imagine being in a relationship with any of them.

"Hotaru…" Mikan trailed as she stared off into space.

"What is it?"

"…do you believe it?"

There was no other reason Mikan could come up with in regards to the mark, but she wanted to feel assured that someone as smart and rational as Hotaru agreed with her that the curse wasn't the reason.

However, the Ice Queen's answer was quite unexpected. "Possibly."

"W-What?" Mikan was bewildered at not only the fact that the curse could be real, but the idea of Hotaru believing in a myth.

"I'm not saying that I actually believe it, I'm simply making a judgement that there's a possibility that it could be true." She cleared up as she finally found the chance to sit down on the chair beside Mikan's bed.

"…Isn't that the same thing?"

Hotaru scoffed. "Of course not."

Mikan crinkled her eyebrows and looked at Hotaru with an expression of panic before asking her a determining question, "…What if it is real? What if I'm actually going to fall in love with someone?"

"Somehow, I have a good feeling about the outcome of this situation. And who you would fall in love with, too."

She was surprised by Hotaru's words, and a part of her was actually eager about finding out. "…Who?"

And, as expected, Hotaru replied with a reply very characteristic for her attitude. "That for me to know and you to find out."

* * *

_"Kekekekeke... curious, aren't you? You're no fun... it's a sign that you'll fall in love with her four days from now! But I guess I'm wrong... you're already in love with her, aren't you?"_

* * *

**_A/N: SCORE. I finally updated this story! I've been working on fics for the House Cup, so I had to leave this one for a bit. But finally, the next chapter's up._**

**_Of course, it would be too much of a coincidence if Mikan and Natsume met on both weekends. So this is more of a productive-to-the-plot chapter than a romance chapter. But don't worry, it'll be back with the romance in the next chapter. And the missing scene with the demon and Natsume? That's in the next chapter too. ;)_**


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